1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to calibrating for analytical testing devices, and more particularly to calibrating for an analytical testing device used for evaluating ethanol production yield of an ethanol-producing biological material in a high throughput manner.
2. Description of Related Art
Ethanol fermentation is a biological process in which organic material is converted by microorganisms to simpler compounds, such as sugars. These fermentable compounds are then fermented by microorganisms to produce ethanol and CO2. Ethanol has widespread application, including, as an industrial chemical, gasoline additive or straight liquid fuel. As a fuel or fuel additive, ethanol dramatically reduces air emissions while improving engine performance. As a renewable fuel, ethanol reduces national dependence on finite and largely foreign fossil fuel sources, while decreasing the net accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
As such, ethanol-producing plant materials are valuable crops with many industrial uses due to their unique chemical composition. The amount of ethanol produced from plant material, such as, for example, corn feedstock, can depend on the amount and availability of starch in the plant material, milling conditions, the type of yeast used, the fermentation conditions, and the like. Generally, plant varieties for use in ethanol production are selected based on the fermentability of the variety. Accordingly, seed breeders are continually trying to develop varieties of seeds to maximize ethanol yield. As such, ethanol producers (i.e., purchasers of the plant material) prefer quality control testing for determining the expected ethanol yield for a batch of plant material prior to processing thereof. Previously, correlations between starch and protein levels have been made for evaluating ethanol yield in plant material prior to production processing steps. Such determinations have traditionally been carried out in laboratories, which implement techniques that typically are laborious and time consuming, such as wet chemistry techniques (e.g., high performance liquid chromatography). In this regard, such analyses further have been typically carried out in large vessels and have involved recalculating the ethanol contents of a sample material based on an inconsistent moisture level, both of which may impede throughput for analyzing the ethanol yield of the sample material. One conventional evaluation technique grinds agricultural seed into a homogenous powder, wherein any of a variety of laboratory techniques can then be utilized to derive information about the chemical make-up of the powder. In this regard, information can be collected and used through destruction of the seed. As such, significant time and resources are required to grind and handle individual seed and its powdered form.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an objective and rapid qualitative evaluation of plant seed material intended for ethanol production in a non-destructive manner. Such an evaluation would make it possible to determine objectively the ethanol yield of the plant seed material according to its quality/composition. In this regard, it would be advantageous to carry out this objective analysis quickly at ethanol production sites (and not only in a laboratory). Furthermore, it would be advantageous to calibrate for a device implementing such a rapid qualitative evaluation of plant seed material, wherein a calibration system and/or method facilitates high throughput of a sample material to build a calibration model associated with the plant material to be used in large-scale ethanol production.